Pondichéry (Puducherry)
The Prince de Conti was at Pondichéry 2-11 September 1754.
At Pondichèry, the French and German military unit disembarked along with several others. Altogether 122 people—almost half of those on board—remained in Pondichéry when the Prince de Conti continued on its way to Kolkata.
One noteworthy individual who disembarked at Pondichéry was a fifteen-year-old from Saint-Malo named Jean François Honoré Lavigne (n° 267). According to the rôle, Lavigne got on the wrong boat at Lorient. It seems he had intended to be on the Duc d'Orléans. He appears on its rôle where he is listed as staying behind in Lorient. As we have seen, the two ships actually crossed paths again at Madagascar, so one wonders why Lavigne didn't correct his mistake and change ships as Joséph Tréguier had done.
There is no clear record of Lavigne leaving Pondichéry. Interestingly, however, there is a slim possibility that he ended up on the Duc d'Orléans after all. A few weeks after Lavigne disembarked from the Prince de Conti at Pondichéry, the Duc d'Orléans arrived at the same port. The Governor General of French India, Joséph François, marquis Dupleix, then boarded the Duc d'Orléans for his return to Europe. (In the midst of ongoing clashes with the British, Dupleix had been replaced after serving in the role for twelve years. This transition marked the end of French expansion in India). For his return voyage, Dupleix took along an entourage of seventeen servants, slaves and other attendants, including a guard named La Vigne (n° 717). Is it possible that Dupleix hired the young Lavigne and arranged for his return to Europe? Whether or not it was the same Lavigne, he showed the same penchant for drifting. The Duc d'Orléans stopped at Île Bourbon on its way back to France, but when Dupleix and the rest of his entourage carried on, La Vigne stayed behind. Four months later, he ended up boarding another ship, the Bourbon, and returning to Pondichéry.
